


two paper airplanes flying

by lucastown



Series: mileven one shots [8]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Grief, Grieving, I love them so much, Mileven, Minor Character Death, Out of the Woods inspired, based off a Taylor Swift song, bring them back to me, good girlfriend el, i wrote this when i was very young do not judge, lowercase intended, mike just really loves his girlfriend, mike wheeler is the best boyfriend, mileven one shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28258125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucastown/pseuds/lucastown
Summary: “your necklace hanging from my neck, the night we couldn’t quite forget.”
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Series: mileven one shots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1250885
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	two paper airplanes flying

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so i originally posted this to wattpad when i was 14 but wanted to post it here incase i lost my wattpad account. please do not judge too harshly it’s been years since i wrote this. i just thought maybe someone here would enjoy <3
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: there is character death and grief mentioned so if that upsets you please proceed with caution!

"your necklace hanging from my neck,  
the night we couldn't quite forget." 

michael wheeler had never been a boy to wear any kind of jewelry. 

he had noticed that some boys had gotten their ears pierced and even some boys wore necklaces (though, they called them 'chains.') but michael wheeler had never owned anything like that. 

well that was until january of 1985, when his grandpa passed away and left his favorite paper airplane necklace in mike's possession, and since then the necklace held a special place in mike's heart and you could not find him without it. 

the first few months since his grandfather's death were painful, as are all deaths, but like all deaths, time heals. 

and so in april of 1985 while mike sat on the hopper's couch, eleven curled into his side, playing with the paper airplane necklace that hung around his neck, he wasn't even thinking of the old man whom he had loved so much. 

"mike?" the curly haired brunette said, her voice soft as it called out into the cold air of the cabin that was growing darker by the second as the sun set in the sky. 

"mhmm?" he mumbled, twirling a piece of her curly hair in his finger, his cheeks flushing pink. 

" how are you?" she asked cautiously, causing mike's eyebrows to furrow inwards as he looked down at her, her fingers were still gently wrapped around his paper airplane necklace. 

"what do you mean, el?" he asked, confused. 

"with your grand-pa." she said, piecing the words together carefully.

before mike's grandfather's passing, el hadn't ever heard of 'grandparents' and it was still very hard for her to understand completely what a grandparent was.

how families worked was hard for her to understand, and mike knew that, he was always patient with her when he tried to explain what role a grandparent had, but she still did not understand, no matter how hard she tried. 

"oh, i'm okay, i guess, it doesn't hurt as much anymore." mike said honestly, causing el's eyes to widen as she grabbed his wrist quickly.

"it hurts?" she asked, examining his skin for any cuts or bruises, obviously thinking he meant physical pain. 

he let a small chuckle escape his pink lips as he shook his head and grabbed her wrists lightly to stop her.

"no el, not that type of hurt, it's like, em-emotional, i guess." he explained softly, his voice breaking slightly. 

" emotional, emotions." el whispered, making the connection with a previous word she had learned. "happy, mad, sad." she said, her eyes widening once she said the last word. "you're sad, aren't you?" el asked.

mike smiled slightly, she had already asked him this, quite a few times actually. "i was, now, now i just feel kind of different, i guess about it, like i've accepted it and it's just missing him right now and moving on from it." he said, unlatching his hands from hers and setting them in his own lap. 

the almost- couple sat in silence for a few moments before el grabbed his hands that st in his lap. 

" mike," she whispered, "i'm sure he misses you too." 

mike felt tears form in his eyes at her words, he knew el didn't quite grasp the concept of death but even though her words didn't make much sense, they meant the world to him. 

before she could process what was happening, he flung himself onto her, wrapping his arms around her torso tightly. 

she hesitated, too startled to do anything, for a moment before she hugged him back.

the two sat like that for a couple moments before mike pulled away and sat back in his seat and el resumed her position, curled into the crevices of his side, fitting perfectly together, well maybe not perfect but perfectly imperfect. 

she tangled her dainty fingers into the silver necklace that hung from his neck.

"pretty." she whispered, staring at the necklace. mike nodded, agreeing with the girl. 

"it is, but-," he started, hesitating for a moment before sitting up and touching the necklace. "i think it would look prettier on you." he said, taking it off of his neck.

el's eyes widened, she didn't know that the necklace had been his grandfather's but she suspected that it meant a great deal to the teenage boy. 

"mike," she whispered before he shook his head, gesturing for her to not worry about it.

his cold fingers brushed her short hair away so that he could latch the necklace on, the trail of cold making her shiver for a moment. 

once he had out the necklace on, she turned a little bit so that he could see her, the necklace sat in between her collar bones and right above her chest. 

he smiled at the sight, the necklace did indeed look better on eleven, the silver of the necklace contrasted against her brownish red flannel, she stared at him, her brown eyes were wide, waiting for some kind of indication that she looked okay. 

she had always been insecure and he always knew it. "you look beautiful." he said, causing her cheeks to flush pink and for her to shyly smile at the ground. 

" thank you." she whispered, her eyes meeting his once again. 

"of course." he said, grabbing both of her smaller, colder hands and placing them in between the palms of his warmer ones, attempting to warm her up. "it really does look better on you, el." 

"where did you get it?" she asked slowly, it was still rather hard for her to string her words together. 

mike hesitated for a minute before speaking softly, "it was my grandfather's." he said, rubbing the back of her hands with his thumbs. 

the brunette's eyes widened and she pulled her hands away from his quickly, her hands reaching up to her neck, trying to get the necklace off. 

"oh mike, i-i can't take it." she said, trying her hardest to take the necklace off but she was fumbling with the chain. 

he grabbed her hands to stop her from pulling it off as he shook his head. 

" no, el, it looks much better on you." he said, tugging her hands away from the chain gently. " i want you to have it, he would want you to have it." 

she looked at him, unsure still, but he, as always, assured her.

"promise, el." 

•••

" baby, like we stood a chance.  
two paper airplanes flying." 

she never did take the necklace off, not even as she brought him a box the night before their wedding. 

he stared at the nightly wrapped package before staring at his fiancée. 

" el, y-you didn't have to." mike said but el shook her head and handed him the gift, his brown eyes widening as he started intently at her.

"no, but i wanted to." she said. "open it." she urged. he looked at her and then the box, hesitating for a moment before starting to rip open the wrapping paper, revealing a necklace box. 

"el," he started but she pressed a finger to his lips, shushing him slightly.

"just open the box." she said, teasingly. she took her finger off his lips and he smiled at her before opening the box.

when the box was opened and mike could see what was in it, he started at it in awe, his jaw slacked and tears formed in his eyes. 

it was a paper airplane necklace, identical to the one that hung around el's neck. 

" el," mike whispered, shifting his eyes from the necklace to her doe eyes. 

"it's an exact replica." she said, smiling at him shyly, as if scared he wouldn't like it. 

he set the box down on the table that stood next to him before he wrapped his arms around her tightly and whispered in her ear.

" i love it," he said against her shoulder, "and i love you."

**Author's Note:**

> i remember i wrote this because i really missed haylor and just wanted to write. so this was born out of boredom three years ago. obviously it wasn’t very good but i hope you enjoyed it even a little bit <3


End file.
